[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Screen_shot_2012-05-31_at_19_08_6256.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Yeah, that's guy's scary as an [[{{Pun}} Iraq Lobster!]]"]]
->'''Peter:''' Sorry, Joe, I just had one of my ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' fantasy moments.
->'''Quagmire:''' It's the best show you're not watching!
->'''Cleveland:''' [[LampshadeHanging I hate shows that cut away from the story for some bull crap.]]
->''([[HypocriticalHumor Cut to]] AdolfHitler, [[RefugeInAudacity juggling three fish while riding a unicycle]])''
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''

Also known as a Cutaway Joke or, thanks to ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', a Manatee Gag, a Cutaway Gag is a joke generally found in sillier comedies in which one character says something completely random and the action immediately cuts to a throwaway joke. The Cutaway Gag is a non sequitur in that it has absolutely nothing to do with the plot of the comedy. [[RuleOfFunny It is just there to be funny.]] And if the gag ''is'' funny, no one minds the non sequitur. Of course, if it isn't...

A staple of the GagSeries, or those using RapidFireComedy (after all, it's easy to have lots of jokes if you don't need them to make sense).

Compare BigLippedAlligatorMoment, ImagineSpot, CrazyMemory, ProductPromotionParade (which this can overlap with), SeparateSceneStorytelling. Also an Aversion to the NoodleIncident, especially when they briefly start off with a bit of dialogue that would imply such a trope.
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!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Family Guy]]
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' doesn't go an episode without at least twenty cutaway gags being thrown in (and yes, the writers liked the ''South Park'' episode enough that [[AppropriatedAppellation they started using the nickname]]). Most are only a second and a half long, and often take the format "This is worse than the time that..", allowing virtually anything to be slotted in anywhere. The show is widely acknowledged to be the most {{egregious}} example of this trope. An example, from "One If By Clam, Two If By Sea":
--->'''Lois:''' Nigel's charming. All British men are!
--->'''Peter:''' Yeah right, that's what they said about Creator/BenjaminDisraeli.
--->(Scene cuts to Disraeli as he writes with a quill pen in his study, then glares at the camera)
--->'''Benjamin Disraeli:''' [[NoFourthWall You]] [[SmallReferencePools don't even know]] [[LampshadedTheObscureReference who I am!]].
** In 2010 they did produce a few episodes with no cutaway gags, basically to prove that they could. Two have been broadcast as of now. One of them, "Brian & Stewie", featured Brian and Stewie locked in a bank vault. It was a normal episode that was pretty well done. The other was an extended VerySpecialEpisode.
** Sometimes the gag is subverted:
--> '''Stewie:''' They'll come after you like Peter went after that hockey coach. [{{beat}}] [[AnimatedActors Oh, no clip]]? Oh, thought we had a clip. Nope? Okay."
** In "Believe It or Not, Joe Is Walking on Air", Peter compares a situation to giving a monkey the keys to an amusement park. However, no clip follows, and Lois asks what it has to do with anything.
** In "Spies Reminiscent of Us", Stewie is knocked out, and he can't set up the cutaway properly. This leads to him standing in an empty white room. Then, famous athlete Wilma Rudolph runs by. Stewie comments: "Obviously, she had something to do with the gag, but I didn't hear the setup, so I don't really know the context." Later in the same episode, the cast meets Vladimir Putin, who shows them a Russian CutawayGag, which consists of [[MindScrew a poorly animated yellow porcupine yelling in Russian until a loaf of bread lands nearby, at which point it start laughing]].
** In the episode "Back to the Woods", James Woods steals Peter's identity and when he tries to get back with his family, James threatens him with activating a cutaway gag if he doesn't leave. Peter leaves in fear while Brian doesn't understand why he's so scared.
** The quote at the top of the page is an example that ends up being subverted later in the episode:
--> '''Peter''': Guys, we have to re-cripple Joe. It's the right thing to do, just like taking out [[AdolfHitler Hitler]].
--> ''(Cut to Hitler juggling on the unicycle again. Peter walks up to him and kicks the unicycle out from under him, then punches him out.)''
--> '''Peter''': See? [[BrickJoke We had a plan for that all along.]]
** Yet another spoof comes in one episode where Peter says "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!" The scene changes to show [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Peter in bed with a lipstick-wearing horse]]; he glances at the camera and mutters "Um, I misspoke."
** One episode even had a CutawayGag within a CutawayGag.
** In the episode where Peter becomes overly-feminine, they set up a cutaway gag that cuts back to a scene from about a minute earlier.
** In the episode "Back to the Pilot", Stewie and Brian time-travel [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin back to the pilot episode]]; rather than reuse the pilot's {{Cutaway Gag}}s, it shows that during the gags, the characters just freeze in place and wait for them to finish. And then there's a CutawayGag showing that the "modern" characters now take time to smoke/text/do their makeup/etc during their gags.
** The 2011 Thanksgiving special involved Kevin Swanson returning home and admitting we went [=AWOL=] from the army. Peter refers to him as a "regular Benedict Arnold Drummond". Cut to the producers hopelessly confused and looking for a tape of [[DiffrentStrokes Gary Coleman]] in a Napoleon hat. After giving up they just put in one of the [[TheWizardOfOz Cowardly Lion]] as LindsayLohan's OB/GYN.
** They even have Cutaway Gags poking fun at Cutaway Gags. In one episode, there's a cutaway about the time Quagmire thought he was getting his own show (instead of Cleveland)
-->'''Quagmire:''' "See you later, bitches. Have fun with your stupid, fucking Giant Chicken jokes and your Conway Twitty... Hey, why is there a moving truck outside Cleveland's house?"
** The episode where pot is legalized in Quahog leaves Peter too baked to set up a cutaway. He stumbles through the setup then gives up and instead resigns to throwing a scrolling list of celebrities he dislikes up on the screen.
** In another episode, Peter "she's betrayed me worse than Lady Macbeth betrayed Duncan." We then cut to a spaceship, where Lady Macbeth is fighting a bear. Cut back to Peter admitting "I don't know Shakespeare very well."
** In another episode, Peter induces one involving Creator/MichaelJFox, but then it cuts to him standing in front of a white background. He describes the entire flashback to the audience, explaining that [[DudeNotFunny the execs decided it was too low a blow]]...but then they decide to roll it after all, and they use the cutaway normally.
** In another episode, Peter says an intro to the cutaway, then cutting to Peter explaining to the audience that to enhance their reading abilities, he'll simply show a typed transcript of said cutaway. [[spoiler: Unfortunately for the audience it was a visual gag.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Advertising]]
* Could switching to GEICO really save you 15% or more on car insurance? Does CromartieHighSchool feature strumming guitars in the mountains?
** Parodied by TheAnnoyingOrange.
* The General Auto Insurance television commercials has a character who is a "General" for obvious reasons. Not so obvious is the reason for the penguin sidekick.
* Directv has a a few of these for the Directv genie. Whether its about how bad cable is to ___ or how awesome having Directv is.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime And Manga]]
* Used and explicitly [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in one episode of ''CromartieHighSchool'', which suddenly cuts to a sequence titled [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Let's Strum A Guitar In The Mountains!"]], at the end of which the man playing the guitar throws the instrument up in the air, screaming ''"Oh my god, this is a non-sequitur!"''
* Seen in ''Manga/InuYasha'' when the group are trying to stop two warring brothers from tearing up the countryside. When Inuyasha gets side-tracked complaining about how warring brothers cause needless hassle for everyone and then defensively claiming that he and Sesshoumaru have nothing in common with these two brothers, Sango - in a moment of complete randomness - wonders if Sesshoumaru's the kind of person who sneezes when he's talked about. Cue the momentary cutaway which doubles as a SneezeCut to reveal that it's actually Jaken who sneezes on Sesshoumaru's behalf and that he really dislikes this aspect of being Sesshoumaru's servant. Then the normal plotline continues.
* This is done in ''AxisPowersHetalia'': The notorious dance scene with Japan and Switzerland. ''Yo ho ho, tra la la la...''
* ''[[Anime/{{Persona 4}} Persona 4: The Animation]]'' does this twice in episode 11. When the team realizes they've left the head of Teddie's original body behind. Cue some kid crying at its white-eyed, soulless stare. Same kid both times, but in different places.
* Episode 16 of ''{{Slayers}}'' had Lina, Gourry, and Amelia travelling with a theater company. The director decided to cast them in an upcoming play, with Amelia as the hero. In one scene where she reads a line from the script (in her usual LargeHam / LoveFreak way), the background shifts to make it look like she is a voice actress in a recording studio. Then she asks "how was it?" -- cut to Gourry behind the recording desk, who says "Sorry, you were blowing into the mic." The background then shifts back to normal, and Amelia responds "I was ''what''?!"
* ''Manga/{{Kotoura-san}}'' uses this as a weird sort of MeetCute. After a [[DownerBeginning dark and depressing backstory sequence]], Kotoura meets Manabe, reads his mind, and she and the audience see...a purple frog-man in a desert doing a bizarre dance to a series of random noises. There's no real point to this freaky daydream other than as a [[MoodWhiplash "transition"]] to the cutesy OP and the much less dark second half of the episode.
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[[folder:Comics]]
* ''Comicbook/DarkwingDuck'' (in the new comics): After Darkwing welcomes Launchpad back as his sidekick:
-->'''Launchpad:''' There aren't really a lot of positions open for sidekicks/pilots.\\
''*Cut to Launchpad holding the [[WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers Rangerplane]] with [[TheCameo Gadget]] standing on his shoulder*''\\
'''Launchpad:''' I can pilot this!\\
'''Gadget:''' No. No, you cannot.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7256075 A Very Freakin' Family Guy Mis-Ed-venture]]'' features [[OncePerEpisode at least one cutaway gag in each chapter]], as is to be expected from a {{crossover}} with ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''.
* Cutaway gags occur more often in later chapters of ''FanFic/TheManySecretOriginsOfScootaloo''. Characters will reference something unbelievable, then the story will cut to reveal such an event is happening.
* ''FanFic/TurnaboutStorm'': Before the trial starts, [[VisualNovel/AceAttorney Phoenix]] wonders what would his {{Friendly Rival|ry}} prosecutor [[TheStoic Edge]][[ClosetGeek worth]] do if he was the one stuck in [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Equestria]]. Cut to an ImagineSpot of Edgeworth gleefully riding and playing with the ponies through the land.
-->'''Edgeworth:''' This is just like that one episode of the Steel Samurai where he meets the Pink Princess! '''''WHEEEEEEE!!!'''''\\
'''Phoenix:''' ''(Doctor, I'd like the part of my brain responsible for that image [[BrainBleach lobotomized please...]])''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* There are several scenes like this in the comedy ''Film/{{Airplane}}''. One is where someone in the control tower says that the people flying the plane are gonna be fine; after all, "they're on instruments!" [[IronicEchoCut Cut to]] the plane's cockpit, where several of the characters are playing real swingin' jazz music.
-->''You've gotta talk him right down to the ground!'' (watermelon falls right to the ground)
-->''We go back a long time.'' (long spear is thrown into the wall behind him)
* In ''ErnestScaredStupid'', there's a cutaway gag in which Ernest's 4th grade teacher confirms that "[[ActuallyPrettyFunny He never knew when to quit.]]" after whapping young Ernest over the head.
* ''Disney/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'': After meeting [[GentleGiant Louis]], Naveen asks why he's never tried to play jazz.
-->'''Louis:''' Oh, I tried once.
-->''(Cut to Louis jumping onto a river boat and playing his trumpet. Five seconds later, he dives back into the river as the boat's passengers fire at him)''
-->'''Louis:''' [[CaptainObvious It didn't end well]].
* The "Zombie Kill of the Week" segments from ''Film/{{Zombieland}}''. It's only one scene, and it generally feels like something the executives had put in later for the trailer, but it's actually an artefact from when Zombieland was originally conceived as a TV show [[ThrowItIn that they decided to keep.]]
* In ''{{Hoodwinked}}'', this snarky conversation that Red has in her first conversation at the cottage with Flippers:
-->'''Red Puckett:''' They've got this all wrong, Mr. Flippers.
-->'''Nicky Flippers:''' Oh, I don't know. You look pretty dangerous to me. What's your name?
-->'''Red Puckett:''' Red.
-->'''Nicky Flippers:''' And why do they call you that?
-->'''Red Puckett:''' Why do they call you Flippers?
-->''[Cuts to Flippers on the dance floor at a disco club, wearing a flashy white suit; as someone chants "Go Flippers!" in the background, he does a backflip and lands in a splitz]''
-->'''Nicky Flippers:''' Uh, [[BlatantLies no reason]].
-->'''Red Puckett:''' They call me "Red" because of this red hood I wear.
-->'''Nicky Flippers:''' What about when you're not wearing it?
-->''[{{Beat}}]''
-->'''Red Puckett:''' ''[quietly]'' I usually wear it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' was filled with this trope, and lampshaded it on occasion:
-->'''Mrs. Turpin''': That's Mr. Kamikaze, the pilot. He's very nice really, but make sure he stays clear of battleships.\\
(cut to StockFootage of battleships)\\
'''Voiceover''': There have been many stirring tales told of the sea and also some fairly uninteresting ones only marginally connected with it, like this one. Sorry, this isn't a very good announcement.
* ''RowanAndMartinsLaughIn'' was, too.
* ''{{Titus}}'' featured so many cutaway gags that some fans referred to it as a live action "Family Guy," though most were flashbacks showing Titus' messed-up childhood and teen years.
* ''TheYoungOnes'' often featured Manatee Gags. Although they usually segued from and back to the main action somehow.
** Their use was lampshaded in one episode where there was a close up on an animated matchbox which merely said 'Don't look at me, I'm irrelevant'
* As suggested by the quote above, ''{{Scrubs}}'', with J.D.'s flights of fancy.
** Although the one time they actually made a joke about a manatee, it was ''not'' one of these. (Although it was a non-sequitur, it wasn't a cutaway.)
* Frequently used in ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', usually in the form of someone's memory or invoking a brief flashback (appropriate, given that the entire series is a flashback made of a guys memories).
* ''Series/ThirtyRock''.
** They even managed to do this in the LiveEpisode; Julia Louis-Dreyfus replaced Tina Fey in the flashback scenes.
-->'''Jack''': Why are you better-looking in your memory?
-->'''Liz''': My memory has ''{{Seinfeld}}'' money.
*** The other live episode did this too, but had younger versions of the main cast, with AmyPoehler as Liz, DonaldGlover as Tracy and JimmyFallon as Jack.
* ''FatherTed'' did a few of these.
* ''Series/BigTimeRush'' does this on occasion, most notably when the boys are reminded of or think about past actions they've done (like in one episode, they flashback to causing an explosion in the Palmwoods pool using dynamite). Most of the time, said cutaways are mentioned later in the episode.
* The "adult puppet show" ''{{Mongrels}}'' does too many to count.
* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' featured this a lot as well.
* ''Series/That70sShow'' relied on this trope constantly, usually usinig it to display the character's imagination in many "what if" situations.
* ''{{Glee}}'' does this all the time.
* ''Series/TheAdventuresOfLanoAndWoodley'' does this in the episode "The Girlfriend", with Colin telling a busker about his failed attempt at seduction in a cafe, culminating in a modern dance sequence.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' does this occasionally, one example being in [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0718.html this comic]].
-->'''Elan:''' But what game? What competition should we choose that you [[ChessWithDeath could beat Death himself at]]??
-->''(Cut to random female fighter ghost challenging Death to a wet t-shirt contest)''
** Of course, since ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' has never met a trope they wouldn't [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]], we also get [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0602.html this reference...]]
--->'''New Cleric:''' If the Church of Loki or the Thieves' Guild found out I was here right now, aiding an enemy of Bozzok's, they'd --
--->Cutaway scene involving the characters getting sold out.
--->'''New Cleric:''' -- Crap, that was a cutaway panel, wasn't it? I bet that was a cutaway to them talking about how they found me!
* Used in [[http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/04/06 this strip of]] ''PennyArcade'', when showing [[PottyFailure why Gabe only wore his pants backwards once]].
* ''PKComic'' provides a good example in [[http://www.pk-comic.com/comic0012.html this comic.]]
* ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'' has an example in [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2005/05/12/episode-552-tis-a-fine-vessel/ this comic]]. After Fighter mentions a land-based submarine, the comic randomly cuts to a three-panel scene about the crew of such a landsub.
* ''TheKennyChronicles'' had [[http://www.kennychronicles.com/2011/02/28/closer-closer-close-enough/ a]] [[http://www.kennychronicles.com/2011/03/03/apparently-its-muppets-week-at-kenny-chronicles/ couple]] that were probably meant as parodies.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''WebVideo/FourBlokesWithoutTelly'', used mostly in the first Episodes.
* ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'', especially the ShowWithinAShow gags.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''MegasXLR'' used this in the very first episode when [[IdiotHero Coop]] tried to explain to Kiva of how he "trained" for battle against the Glorft:
-->'''Kiva''': How did ''you'' get to be such a good pilot?
-->'''Coop (looking off into the distance)''': Well...
-->(Scene then fades into a {{Montage}} of Coop [[IKnowMortalKombat playing video games from when he was a child]], to his teen years, to his early adulthood)
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' was the TropeNamer when this trope was still called Manatee Gag. In the episode "Cartoon Wars", the writing staff of ''Family Guy'' are revealed to be a group of manatees swimming around a water tank, randomly pushing around balls with words written on them. The episode featured several fake clips from ''Family Guy'' that all followed this format.
* ''KappaMikey'' had a few per episode [[FollowTheLeader that all seemed to be directly inspired by]] ''Family Guy''.
* ''SpongebobSquarepants'' has some examples:
** From the episode "The Bully:"
-->'''[=SpongeBob=]''': "Oh, Gary! I'm too young to have my butt kicked! There's so many things in life that I haven't gotten to do!"
-->''(Scene cuts to Spongebob working in an office cubicle.)''
-->'''[=SpongeBob=]''': "Hello, I'll transfer your call."
** From the episode "Doing Time:"
-->'''[=SpongeBob=]''': "Patrick, she has lost it! She's completely institutionalized! She's forgotten to what it's like to live on the outside, to not be in prison!"
-->''(Scene cuts to a man in traffic, then working in an office cubicle, then staring out his bedroom window.)''
-->'''Woman''': "Coming to bed, honey?"
-->'''Man''': "Yes, dear."
** From the "Sun Bleached"
-->'''[=SpongeBob=]''': So Patrick, how do you feel?
-->'''Patrick''': Like one of those young old folks from the soda commercials.
-->''(cut to a live-action old guy in a mock soda commercial)
** In the episode "The Great Snail Race", as Spongebob is training Gary to participate in the race, at one point (after Spongebob lampshades [[MenAreStrongWomenArePretty sexist strategies in his training]]) the scene abruptly cuts to Sandy saying to herself, "I don't know ''why'', but I think I should kick Spongebob's butt tomorrow". And at the end of the episode [[BrickJoke she does just that]].
* ''PhineasAndFerb'' has one [[OnceAnEpisode practically every episode]].
* ''AmericanDad'' had a few in the pilot episode, but quickly dropped them in an attempt to distance the show from ''Family Guy''.
** One episode {{lampshade|Hanging}}d the difference by having Stan give the setup for a Cutaway Gag and nothing happens other than Francine asking what on Earth he was doing.
** Also lampshaded when Roger tries a cutaway gag setup ("That was as obvious as the SequelHook at the end of ''Film/BatmanBegins''!"), but all it does is prompt Stan to ask what the hell that has to do with anything.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'', an actual ''Family Guy'' SpinOff, will use cutaways, if not as often as its mother show. And like ''Family Guy'', it has occasionally made fun of them as well. One episode featured them using the same cutaway gag for three different situations.
* SethMacFarlane's use of this trope is spoofed in the ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' episode "Help Me" where he seems to be a RealityWarper that can make ''anything'' happen just by describing it and then having a cutaway of it happening.
-->'''Seth [=MacFarlane=]''': Robot Chicken? Why I haven't heard that name since it was renewed.
-->(Cutaway to an exec saying ''"Robot Chicken is renewed."'')
-->'''Seth Green''': Wow! Uhh quick, offhandedly mention that time we [[ReedRichardsIsUseless ended world hunger]]!
-->'''Seth [=MacFarlane=]''': End world hunger? I haven't heard an idea that ridiculous since Scooby Jew.
-->(cutaway to Scooby Jew [[AllJewsAreCheapskates haggling]] over getting only one scooby-snack in exchange for doing a task.)
* Although it's not widely associated with them, ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' did a number of such gags in the early seasons. One commenter on an early DVD commentary even expressed surprise that they used to do so many.
** [[WordOfGod The same DVD commentary]] said they stopped because ''Family Guy'' was doing so many, in an attempt to be different.
* [[http://youtu.be/iuVDhLbvS4g Parodied]] (with a manatee-esque walrus) on ''DrawnTogether''.
* For a show that doesn't pull many cutaway gags, [[http://youtu.be/LPSfgwKsJ-4#t=300s this]] is a pretty good one in ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}''.
* ''RegularShow'' does them once in a while. A memorable instance from "The Power", where [[ItMakesSenseInContext the group arrives on the Moon thanks to Mordecai and Rigby's magic keyboard.]] They see a bunch of random objects and, when Mordecai asks how they got there, Rigby comments that while the others were in the bathroom...
-->'''Rigby''' (singing and playing The Power): A bunch of baby ducks, seeend 'em to the moon![=/=]Soda machine that doesn't work, seeend 'em to the moon!
** Benson just fired Rigby when he overhears him slacking off, he justified that Rigby never finishes his work, Rigby defends himself by saying he always finishes his work. Then cuts a few scenes showing Rigby slacking off in his job.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' had one in "Bully for Skippy":
-->'''Slappy''': You're not my nephew, you're one of those body-snatching pod people I always read about in the check-out line!
-->''(Scene cuts to Slappy at the supermarket reading a newspaper.)''
-->'''Woman''': That'll be $10.95.
-->'''Slappy''': Hey, quit rushing me! Can't you see I'm trying to catch up on the news here?
* In ''BrandyAndMrWhiskers''' "I Am Rainfo":
-->'''Brandy''': Whiskers, think of all the fun we'll have with this lost stash of books!
-->''[cut to Brandy and Whiskers dancing while tearing out pages from a book]''
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' had one in "Dragon Quest". After Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash don a [[PaperThinDisguise really really fake looking dragon costume]], one of the real dragons notices them.
-->'''Garble''': Who's this weirdo?
-->'''Other Dragon''': I think he's Crackle's cousin.
-->''[cut to a dragon who just happens to look exactly like the costume]''
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' plays with this trope a bit, using it as a method of {{Foreshadowing}} or to flesh out its plot and characters instead of just as a way to get easy laughs. In addition, it usually ends with a lampshade by one of the main characters.
[[/folder]]
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